We are big cereal lovers at our house. We are also big lovers of cinnamon buns. We call them buns because we are Canadian and they will never be rolls to us. Did you know that in Canada we call “rolls” buns? What do you call them?

I digress. I was watching something about Christina Tossi and then had an idea to try to channel her cereal milk love and this is what I came up with.

Spoiler: they were a huge hit. I would love to try them with fruity pebbles or fruit loops or something that has a more distinct sugar cereal flavor, but now that I know how good they are with the cinnamon toast crunch and frosted flakes I used, I don’t know if I’ll ever give it a shot. But if you do, please let me know!!

Sourdough Cereal Milk Buns

Ingredients

175g mature starter

350g warm milk

92g oil (melted coconut oil is what I use)

15g Salt

1 egg

115g sugar

650-700g all-purpose flour (or a mixture of all-purpose and bread)

3 cups cereal (I used Cinnamon toast crunch and frosted flakes)

¼ cup butter, room temperature

4 tbsp brown sugar

2 tsp cinnamon

Directions:

Pour 1 cup of cereal into the warm milk and let it sit for 10 minutes (at least). Strain it the best you can, keeping the milk to make the dough.
In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine cereal milk, sugar, eggs, oil, starter, and 200 grams of the flour. It will be very wet. Let it sit for about 45 minutes.
Add in the remaining flour and salt and mix for 7-10 minutes. Start with 650g of flour, and then after 5 minutes of mixing, if it is still very sticky, add additional flour.
After mixing, make the dough into a round ball and put it into a lightly greased bowl.
Let dough rise covered at room temperature for 4 hours and then put into the fridge overnight.
The next morning, let the dough sit at room temperature for about an hour to warm up.
While the dough is warming up, make the filling for the buns. Crush the remaining 2 cups of cereal, or quickly grind in a food processor. Add the sugar and the cinnamon.
Grease a 9 x 13-inch pan.
On a lightly greased counter, roll the dough into a large rectangle (about 24 x 18 inches). Spread the butter over the dough, and sprinkle the filling on top. Leave about an inch on the bottom without anything.
Starting at the top, roll the dough carefully and as tight as you can into a log.
Cut the log into 1 1/2 - 2 inch pieces and put it into the pan.
Cover with plastic wrap or a damp towel and let them rise for 2-4 hours until nice and puffy.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees and bake for 15-18 minutes. They will be just starting to brown on the top but will still look fairly light. Do not overcook, or they will get dry.
Let cool and top with your favorite buttercream or cream cheese frosting below.

Cream cheese frosting

4 oz cream cheese (vegan works great)

6 tbsp softened butter

3 cups powdered sugar

1 tbsp heavy cream or milk

Juice from half a lemon

½ tsp vanilla

In a stand mixer, cream together cream cheese and butter until well mixed.
Scrape down the sides and add powdered sugar, heavy cream, lemon juice, and vanilla.
Mix for 4 minutes, scraping down the sides 1-2 times.